I have to say that I even doubt that this unit existed.
The Principality of Neufchatel in Switzerland was ceded to Napoleon by the King of Prussia as part of the treaty of 1805, and was later given to Napoleon’s chief of staff Marshal Berthier in March 1806.
The exploits and history of the Prince of Neufchatel Battalion are well know thanks to their inclusion in the Imperial Guard to provide protection for the French headquarters in 1809, and the strong connection with Marshall Berthier. As a result I would expect the existence of a Cuirassier Regiment would also be well documented. This is not the case.
The closest information I can find to any Cuirassier component is the mention of Carabiniers which are depicted on a number of prints. as they were wearing the traditional Bearskin headgear they are more likely to be the grenadier companies of the infantry battalion rather than a regiment of Cuirassiers. There are also mention of Garde Neufchatel troops in both the Prussian and Saxon armies but only infantry units.
Despite this the figures came to me marked as Garde Kurrassiers de Neufchatel and are depicted in the distinctive yellow uniform of the principality.
Cuirassier armour, musee d’Art et d’Histoire de Neuchatel.
Fictional or not the figures look cool and are now dusted off, touched up, re-based and are now taking pride of place on my figure shelves.
If anyone can shed more light on this I would be glad to hear.
Don’t know about Swiss cavalry, but Neufchatel is a quite pleasant cheese from Normandy
I like the minis! 🙂 It’s maybe surprising (or maybe not, I don’t know) how many cavalry units you’ve featured about which very little is known!
I was surprised as well. I have a very large Napoleonic reference library and couldn’t find anything there and Mr Google also failed me.
A lot we only know from the Knotel series of prints which gives us the uniform and occaisionally a paragraph of information, but that is all. French and German sources may be more productive but, alas, I do not read German and my High School French is sketchy at best.
The very old Napoleonic Uniform Books by Lillian and Frank Funcken (translated from the French) also give excellent detail on French uniforms down to facings, lace and button colours, but no unit history, which is what I am really after.
This lot of figures was even more baffling as I could not even find the name mentioned let alone any uniform information, but as you say they look pretty and I will keep searching.
I have “phoned a friend” (well emailed anyway) who is on secondment to the United Nations in Switzerland and have asked him if he can find anything for me. He tells me the Neuchatel Museum is only an hours drive for him so I may be in luck.